This invention relates to manufactured meat and methods of production thereof.
This invention has particular application to the production of cooked ham, and the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be understood by persons skilled in the art that this invention may find application in the production of other manufactured meats such as bacons and other smoked or cured meats.
It is generally considered that leg ham on the bone is a superior product to boneless ham. In the production of boneless ham and other cured cuts, the brined and cured meat is boned out and the resulting cut is then usually wrapped in a cook-in wrap of polymer or net, or a smoke permeable cook-in wrap for hams or the like. The product is then steam cooked, smoked to cook, or is partially cooked by smoking followed by a heat cooking in a cook-in package, as the product requires.
The resulting product is relatively easier to carve than the bone-in product, and is appreciated by the market as having less waste. However, the boneless products are perceived to have inferior eating quality. Most persistently, the impression of the market is that the flavour of bone-out hams is of less quality that the flavour of bone-in ham.
In one aspect the present invention resides broadly in a method of production of manufactured meat including the steps of:
providing an open-boned, boned-out cut;
separately curing the cut and a bone;
binding the cured bone on the outside of the cut in intimate contact with the flesh of the cut at the recess formed by the open boning thereof with a cook-in binding; and
cooking the bound cut.
Conventional wisdom has it that the superior flavour of ham on the bone is predicated by the tissue-bound intimacy of the bone to the flesh throughout the curing and cooking process in terms of flavour development and thermal transfer through the bone. It has been suprisingly determined that, contrary to this conventional wisdom, essentially the same quality and flavour may be produced by a process in accordance with the present invention.
The cut may be any meat cut requiring to be boned. The bone may be sourced from the cut or may be from elsewhere on the same or another beast.
The boneless cut may be reshaped prior to curing. For example, the reshaping may be performed by mechanical stretching or rehanging. In the case of hams or the like, when the bone is removed the uncured or cured ham may advantageously be rehung or otherwise stretched. The ham muscle may be readily lengthened since there is no ham bone or associated tendons to support the muscle in shape. This hanging or stretching creates the appearance of a larger, longer and/or more streamlined appearance to the product.
The cure may be any suitable cure including but not limited to brining or pickling, sugar cure or the like, with or without saltpetre or other curing excipients. The cure may be the same or different as between the cut and the bone or bone substitute. Preferably, the cure for at least the cut is selected from cures conventionally used to cure the cut.
The binding may be by any suitable means at least in part dictated by the cooking process. The binding is advantageously selected from conventional cook-in bindings. For example, the binding may be by means of a natural or synthetic casing or film, net or cloth.
The cooking may be by means of one or more of smoking, thermal cooking such as roasting, steaming or boiling, or the like.
The intimate contact between the cured bone and the cured flesh may comprise reinsertion of the bone into the cavity of the boned cut.
The intimacy of contact between the flesh and the bone may be supplemented by the addition of a substance selected to enhance diffusion of the principles responsible for bone-enhanced flavour. For example, the bone and/or cut may be treated with a food acid or the like. The additive may also include or comprise a flavouring excipient such as a fruit juice, coulis or the like.
In a yet further aspect this invention resides broadly in a manufactured meat product when produced by any one of the foregoing methods of the invention.
The invention will be further described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in accordance with the following example.